Friday, 2 October 2015

Thank you Josh!

I've just had a really great and inspiring talk with Josh about my idea, and now I'm feeling full of inspiration and drive for this project. :)

First we talked about a current trend that seems to be going on - people building tiny Fairy doors at the foot of trees. This is something that completely appeals to me and I think it's adorable. I can't walk past a tree or a rabbit hole or a strange hole in the ground without thinking of the worlds and characters they could lead to. Here are some images from the trend:

There are more images and information on the little doors that are appearing in this article. :) We then talked about Augmented Reality and the different apps there are, namely a really great app called 'Geocaching'.

Geocaching is a treasure hunting and exploration app, where players can put hidden treasure in a specific location, upload it to the app, and then other players can go and find it. Players can swap trinkets or sign a logbook of who found the Geocach and when, and it really is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard of. This strengthens my idea of making creatures for hidden nooks and crannies - what if you could look at a letterbox with an app and have a little character pop out of it? People could see how many different characters they can find, and make a log of it on their app. These characters could be where you least expect them to be and encourage players to be on the look out and keep their creativity flowing wherever they go.

An app I used for my Futures project last year and which was really useful is Augment - an Augmented Reality app which allows you to upload 3D models and the scanners that you want to activate them.

Looking at where my project is going, I think it would be a good idea to go back to Augment and reuse this (with my own 3D models this time and not the Eiffel Tower...). It's perfect for placing different trackers and testing the waters of my idea. We also came across this video on using Unity3D and Vuforia to create Augmented Reality, so I will definitely be looking into these options also.

The last app we looked at (which unfortunately is no longer available) is an app called String. Here's a video showing what it does:

It's quite similar to Augment in a sense that it uses trackers to generate 3D models, but unlike Augment the player can actually get these 3D models to move around by touching where they want it to go. Unfortunately with the app no longer being available I won't be able to test this, though I think I maaaay shoot the developers an email and ask if there's any way they'd let me use it for my project. Can't hurt to try!

I think I just about covered what we discussed. If I think of anything I've missed or find anything else to add then I'll be sure to update. :)

About Me

Hello! I'm Steph and I'm studying my MA in Games Design at UCLan. I have a passion for creating characters which make people happy, and I want to make safe places and educational games for children (or adults if they wish!).